Import

To import data, go to the "Import" tab in phpMyAdmin. To import data into a specific database or table, open the database or table before going to the "Import" tab.

In addition to the standard Import and Export tab, you can also import an SQL file directly by dragging and dropping it from your local file manager to the phpMyAdmin interface in your web browser.

If you are having troubles importing big files, please consult 1.16 I cannot upload big dump files (memory, HTTP or timeout problems)..

You can import using following methods:

Form based upload

Can be used with any supported format, also (b|g)zipped files, e.g., mydump.sql.gz .

Form based SQL Query

Can be used with valid SQL dumps.

Using upload directory

You can specify an upload directory on your web server where phpMyAdmin is installed, after uploading your file into this directory you can select this file in the import dialog of phpMyAdmin, see $cfg['UploadDir'].

phpMyAdmin can import from several various commonly used formats.

CSV

Comma separated values format which is often used by spreadsheets or various other programs for export/import.

Note

When importing data into a table from a CSV file where the table has an 'auto_increment' field, make the 'auto_increment' value for each record in the CSV field to be '0' (zero). This allows the 'auto_increment' field to populate correctly.

It is now possible to import a CSV file at the server or database level. Instead of having to create a table to import the CSV file into, a best-fit structure will be determined for you and the data imported into it, instead. All other features, requirements, and limitations are as before.

CSV using LOAD DATA

Similar to CSV, only using the internal MySQL parser and not the phpMyAdmin one.

ESRI Shape File

The ESRI shapefile or simply a shapefile is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a (mostly) open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other software products.

MediaWiki

MediaWiki files, which can be exported by phpMyAdmin (version 4.0 or later), can now also be imported. This is the format used by Wikipedia to display tables.

Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS)

OpenDocument workbooks containing one or more spreadsheets can now be directly imported.

When importing an ODS speadsheet, the spreadsheet must be named in a specific way in order to make the import as simple as possible.

Table name

During import, phpMyAdmin uses the sheet name as the table name; you should rename the sheet in your spreadsheet program in order to match your existing table name (or the table you wish to create, though this is less of a concern since you could quickly rename the new table from the Operations tab).

Column names

You should also make the first row of your spreadsheet a header with the names of the columns (this can be accomplished by inserting a new row at the top of your spreadsheet). When on the Import screen, select the checkbox for "The first line of the file contains the table column names;" this way your newly imported data will go to the proper columns.

Note

Formulas and calculations will NOT be evaluated, rather, their value from the most recent save will be loaded. Please ensure that all values in the spreadsheet are as needed before importing it.

SQL

SQL can be used to make any manipulation on data, it is also useful for restoring backed up data.

XML

XML files exported by phpMyAdmin (version 3.3.0 or later) can now be imported. Structures (databases, tables, views, triggers, etc.) and/or data will be created depending on the contents of the file.

The supported xml schemas are not yet documented in this wiki.